"Have you been there (to Hawai'i)? It's a miserable trip. It's forever. Eleven hours. That's just to get there. Then, you've got to acclimate and play a game. It's such a lovely trip. It's like a reoccurring bad dream."

— John L. Smith, Michigan State football coach, 2004.

One way or another, it looks like John L. might manage to avoid that arduous odyssey here next season after all.

If Michigan State's collapses against Notre Dame and Illinois these last couple of weeks don't do in his tenure first — and this week's game with Michigan is looking like a must-win situation — then the Spartans' intention to drop Hawai'i from the 2007 schedule will likely spare him the trip.

Of course, nobody who heard Smith's bleatings before the game or after the Warriors rallied for a 41-38 victory in 2004 (and his "reoccurring bad dream" line came prior to the game), was ever confident Smith would again set foot on the Fieldturf here in Spartan colors.

You may recall MSU whined all 4,400 miles back home about the officiating in that one. Better the Spartans should have mourned their inability to cover Chad Owens, who got loose for four touchdowns and 283 yards in leading UH back from a 21-point deficit. Precisely the kind of el foldos that have Smith in hot water now.

Asked after last year's 42-14 victory over UH in East Lansing, Mich., if he still intended to be here for the return Nov. 24, 2007, game, Smith maintained, "I wouldn't miss it for the world" — and winked.

Now, perhaps, we know why.

Of course, MSU maintains the reason for ditching UH is of a higher purpose. That rather than subject their student-athletes to the rigors of a 13-game season, the Spartans want out of this particular one.

If that's what is really behind it, then you could applaud MSU for a rare and refreshing stand. But despite opposition from some quarters, few schools have lined up and refused to play the 12th or 13th games the NCAA began permitting last season.

And the skeptic here, in view of Smith's rantings, has trouble seeing the Spartans as the academic Lone Ranger on this one. Especially since MSU has had it on the schedule since Oct. 9, 2002.

It shouldn't be a financial burden for MSU since it need not cost the Spartans a cent. UH was contracted to provide airfare for a 120-member party, 60 hotel rooms for four nights and a $30,000 cash guarantee. Nor was the officiating crew to be an issue since UH has been bending over backwards — way too far, in fact — to give Big Ten teams the neutral crews they have asked for. Wisconsin got one last year and Purdue is due one this season.

It is too bad we probably won't see John L. here. It is more disappointing the Spartans might not be coming, either.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.